JOCKEY-of-the-moment Kieren Fallon requires just two more winners to reach his first century after recording a double at Catterick yesterday. Fallon, who was seen at his very best on My Godson and Peartree House, rode only one winner on the all-weather before the "official" turf campaign began. and no fewer than 54 of his successes this season have been achieved on the eight Yorkshire tracks.
Fallon, who scored his previous best score of 92 wins last season, rode a well-judged waiting race on My Godson to beat Roseate Lodge by a length in the Doncaster Town Moor Handicap.
"I told Kieren to give this horse a typical `Ramsden' ride," quipped winning trainer Les Eyre after notching his 49th win of the year.
My target from the start was 50, and even though we are now only one short, it's still 50!" said Eyre who trains from the historic Hambleton Yard at Sutton Bank, North Yorkshire.
Fallon, in third place behind Pat Eddery and Richard Quinn in the jockeys' championship, took his score to 98 aboard Peartree House, 1-2 favourite, in the three-runner Pontefract Park Conditions Stakes.
After getting a lead from Lucky Oakwood, Fallon sent Peartree House to the front over a furlong out and kept the Barry Hills-trained colt up to his work to win by three and a half lengths.
Kevin Darley was also in double form, winning the Beverley Westwood Selling Stakes on Fearless Wonder and the York Knavesmire Handicap on Kalar, who was landing this five furlongs dash for the second successive year.
First Island looks set to contest the Juddmonte International Stakes next after disqualifying himself from a French alternative in winning the Sussex Stakes.
The four-year-old was given a choice of engagements after he had defeated Charnwood Forest last Wednesday, York's Group One feature in two weeks time or the Prix Gontaut-Biron in Deauville the following weekend.
But trainer Geoff Wragg quickly learned that his latest Mollers Racing star is not qualified for the French event which bars Group One winners. "He won't be going to Deauville now because he is not eligible," he said yesterday.
"The choice is now down to York or not York. If he is OK he will run at York otherwise we will wait for something later in the season."
First Island has already won at York this season, capturing the Hambleton Rated Stakes in May off a rating of just 107.
